Of Deepest Green
by LiannaMalfoy
Summary: When all you believe in has been shadowed by love can the love ever prosper without doubts? Focuses on Draco and an original character, set in the fourth year.


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters involved in this story apart from Eleyne. All of the perceptions of Draco's character are my own.

_**Of Deepest Green**_

Draco Malfoy looked around the great hall and sighed, the atmosphere was electric, the first day back. It was going to be a long one. He stared unenthusiastically at the plate of toast in front of him, pushing it away he found that he wasn't hungry anymore. Without a word he got up and left the hall, capturing the gaze of some Ravenclaws who were just entering.

Although he couldn't see anyone else he knew he wasn't alone, in this school it was a rare occurrence. He smiled grimly, loneliness, despite all his taunts of others he was an expert on being lonely. He looked up as he heard a loud noise, he stood where he was, watching, intrigued. A moment later a figure appeared, half a head shorter than Draco, the figure was draped in a dark green cloak. Moving closer to him the figure pulled the hood down and Draco took in the long dark curls which bathed the girl's shoulders, the curious grey eyes and extremely pale skin. She looked up at him curiously and opened her mouth to speak.

"Do you know where I could find Professor Dumbledore?" Her words merged smoothly together in a soft country burr, which Draco had never heard before. Stammering slightly, he had lost some of his usual confidence, lost in her gaze.

"He… Professor Dumbledore is in the great hall." He noticed her thin lips curve into a slight smile and she carried on looking at him expectantly.

She must be foreign. The thought flashed across his mind and he heard himself haughtily adding,

"The. Great. Hall."

"Oh, I know." She smiled again. "Where is the hall?"

Feeling foolish Draco hid it well and gestured to his left. "Just in there."

"Thank-you." She swept past him and he lingered there for a moment before heading for the Slytherin common room where he had left his books.

Eleyne looked impatiently between Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall. Her eyebrows met in a thoughtful frown, why were they taking so long? It had all seemed so simple before. She looked around at Professor Dumbledore's office, trying to occupy herself while the two professors talked quietly about her.

She had expected them to be more organised than this. Surely it wasn't difficult to fit one more student into this huge school? It had all gone so smoothly until this point.

I wish daddy was here. She thought, he would have made things so much easier, he would have made these people doing something, anything, other than the awkward muttering they were doing now.

Finally she heard silence in the room. She looked up at the people standing in front of her. The woman simply smiled at her and Dumbledore just followed her gaze as her attention was pulled to outside.

"Miss Glynn" The old man began, amused, he noticed her attention snap straight back to him. "Thank-you for waiting so patiently. I think you'll understand that this is quite a difficult situation, seeing as you're joining the school a few years later than the others…"

"My skills as a witch are just as good as any of the students here Professor Dumbledore." The girl interrupted.

"We do not doubt your capability as a witch. It is just how to get you settled in…" Dumbledore paused. "We will sort you into a house and introduce you to your year, we will sort out your accommodation before the end of today." Eleyne relaxed into her chair. She watched Professor McGonagall carry over a rather tatty and worn hat and hold it out to Eleyne.

"What do I do with this?" Eleyne asked, holding onto as little of the hat as possible.

"Put it on." The woman said. "Go on, it is how we'll sort you into a house."

Now, what have we got here? Older than the others… I haven't sorted you yet. Eleyne suppressed a gasp as the voice filled her ears. Well, interesting… but which house. Brave, a good leader perhaps…Yes, I know…

"Gryffindor!" Eleyne felt the hat being pulled off her head and looked up into Professor McGonagall's smiling face.

"Well, it seems I'll be your head of house. You're lucky with your choice, they're a nice group, I shall take you to meet them when they finish their first lessons."

Draco walked down into the school grounds for Care of magical creatures surrounded by a group of his Slytherin friends. He was still rather distant, then again, so were a lot of people, all of them thinking about the triwizard tournament. Just ahead he saw that the Gryffindors had already gathered there. His mind wavered as he saw a strangely familiar girl. She stood on the edge of the crowd, looking quite lost. Branching away from Crabbe and Goyle Draco went to get closer but caught what Hagrid had been saying. "Blast-Ended Skrewts"…"raise 'em yerselves!" He glanced over at a pile of crates containing deformed looking creatures.

"And why would we want to raise them?" He asked loudly, disgusted by the creatures. Silence followed. "I mean, what do they do? What is the point of them?" After a mumbled and rather feeble answer from Hagrid Draco tuned completely out of the lesson for a while, glancing back at the girl. She was the one he had met in the entrance hall that morning. He felt he had to change the girl's first impressions of him, a stammering fool wasn't a reputation one wanted to have. He looked away as she caught his eyes, embarrassed he turned back to the Blast-Ended Skrewts.

(All the text used from the actual fourth Harry Potter book is not mine, see disclaimer)

There he was. The boy she had met that morning, Draco, she thought the teacher had called him. She had briefly captured his eyes with her own but he had looked away. She looked up at the large man who was teaching them and then back at Draco, whatever he was saying she didn't think was relevant or interesting enough to listen to. About 20 minutes before she had found herself among the Gryffindor fourth years, shaking various hands, saying several 'hello's and forgetting every name that was thrown at her. They seemed very nice but she felt slightly overwhelmed and hadn't made much effort to talk with the others, they were all set in their friendship groups and she didn't want to disturb that.

Before she knew it the lesson was over, she had escaped the Skrewts with hidden desperation, keeping the teacher talking about what they had covered the year before and what she had learnt in her previous school. She smiled at the thought of her old school as she turned back to the castle for lunch, because of the triwizard tournament she would see some of her friends from older years. Previously she had attended Beauxbatons, her father's job had taken them to France for several years but now it had led them here, to England. Many groups of friends had overtaken her now, animatedly talking about various things, mainly the awful Skrewts.

"Hello, we met earlier. I'm Draco Malfoy." Before she knew it the boy was in front of her and holding out a confident hand. Taking it she smiled,

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Eleyne Glynn." She looked at Draco, taking in his blonde hair and confident grin, which didn't quite reach his eyes. He was watching her closely, instead of turning away she met his stare with her own.

"You're in Gryffindor, right?"

"Yes. Why - is it a bad thing?"

"No…but you should pick your friends carefully." He paused, not wanting to make an enemy of her. "I can help you find your way around if you like, we share some lessons I believe."

"Most likely." Her answers were all curt and precise. She would be hard to get to know… if he could be bothered. He didn't know why but something about Eleyne interested him and he wanted to work out what it was. They walked together in silence for a few minutes before both started to talk.

"I'm sorry if I…"

"I'd like it if…" Eleyne stopped abruptly. "You first."

"I was just going to say I hope you don't think I'm rude…just" He grinned, looking at the ground before glancing back up at her "…persuasive." Eleyne laughed.

"No, not rude. Persuasive, perhaps…Posh too." Draco smiled, this time it was a real smile.

"I can just about believe that. What were you going to say?"

"I'd enjoy your company. Showing me around."

"Good. I'll see you then." With that Draco went off to the Slytherin table and sat in down in-between Crabbe and Goyle.


End file.
